You would have been hard-pressed to avoid running into a reasonable facsimile of the King Of Rock & Roll in Las Vegas – even more so than you normally might expect to this past weekend,. The 4th Annual Las Vegas Elvis Festival wrapped up Sunday night, having treated attendees to three days of tribute performances and a competition that crowned The Heart Of The King winner for this year’s event. Beyond that experience, fans got to see rare memorabilia, meet cast members from some of his movies, and chat with long time friends including his original drummer of 15 years, DJ Fontana, and close pals Joe Esposito & Jerry Shilling.

DJ Fontana

Longtime Presley friends Joe Esposito & Jerry Shilling

I took in a small part of this event Saturday, choosing to attend a backstage tour of the stage Presley performed on, along with a concert event that featured founding members of Elvis‘ backing vocalists for his Vegas run – The Stamps Quartet and Sweet Inspirations.

Sweet Inspirations

I have to say as a fan, it was pretty impressive to see them on the actual stage where Elvis sold out 837 consecutive shows back in his early Vegas heyday. Even more remarkable to hear those voices soar on songs like In The Ghetto, How Great Thou Art and American Trilogy, as they accompanied headliner and first-ever Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Shawn Klush.

Stamps Quartet

Ed Enoch is the only original active Stamp in his quartet, while Estelle Brown is the remaining Sweet Inspiration. When Elvis himself was on that stage, one other notable member of the Inspirations was Cissy Houston, Whitney’s mother. Like Frank Valli’s Four Seasons lineup that tours now, the remaining roles are filled by younger singers. No impediment to recreating the sound of their respective groups, I have to say.

Sweet Inspirations with Stamps Quartet

To stand on that stage myself, and see the showroom from Presley’s perspective, bestows a little bit of reverence on one of the few iconic Vegas homes to entertainment that hasn’t been torn down to build a new behemoth resort, replacing the smaller casinos where legends like the Rat Pack made history. After absorbing that for a few moments, the crowd was then escorted down a few stairs, and behind the rear curtains.

Backstage, fans were able to have a peek at and linger where Elvis hung out, and the Green Room that housed his orchestra at the time. Friend for 60 years (and co-tour guide for my session) Jerry Shilling shared a touching memory in one dressing room where Presley was offered a co-starring role directly from visitor Barbra Streisand for her upcoming film A Star Is Born – as Shilling recalled, it was the last time he saw the twinkle of excitement in his friend’s eyes for an exciting new project. Elvis knew as soon as Streisand left the room that the role would be negotiated away – and as history recalls it was, going to Kris Kristofferson.

Rick White, VP of Entertainment for the past 10 years at LVH (purchased July 1st by Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino) shared his astonishment with how artists still get excited about sharing the same stage that Elvis performed on – Brooks & Dunn, ZZ Top, Tony Bennett and Robert Plant to name just a few. Plant actually declined a larger suite when he played there, preferring to stay in a smaller room that Elvis kept when he wanted to get away from the crowd in his own penthouse suite.

30th Floor Verona Penthouse Suite

Actually, it’s the penthouse villa – which was the last stop on the tour, a 16,000 square foot Venetian style “suite” that Presley and his entourage occupied while he was in the city, complete with opulent marble and Renaissance inspired paintings on the ceiling – as well as a private rooftop pool off the bedroom. You may recognize many of the features of this stunning home. This was one of the sets utilized (along with the showroom which was retrofitted to resemble the original booth seating of the 1970’s configuration) for HBO’s Liberace biopic Behind The Candelabra. A big space, for bigger personalities…

After a break for dinner and an opportunity to leave behind my money in some uncooperative slot machines, it was time to to head back into that showroom again. The theatre in the former International Inn/Las Vegas Hilton/LVH was near sellout for the headliner, just like old times.

Tribute artist Shawn Klush brought the crowd to more standing ovations that I could count during his That’s The Way It Was performance, a partial recreation of Presley’s two concert films.

Shawn Klush

Having seen Elvis tribute artists going back to the late 70’s including Rick Saucedo, and Alan, a performer so popular he even managed to headline in Vegas himself, Klush was truly impressive – both visually and vocally. There’s a YouTube clip of his competition for BBC1‘s World’s Greatest Elvis where he chokes up Joe Esposito with an uncanny rendition of Paul Anka’s My Way that clinched the title for him. He didn’t do that song during the show, but the ones he did perform brought Presley back to the stage for those that had seen him live in that room before, and for those of us that weren’t so fortunate to have experienced the real deal.

Shawn Klush

Thirty-seven years since his passing, Elvis is still everywhere in Las Vegas. In Million Dollar Quartet, Legends In Concert, plus a host of tribute artists at a variety of different casinos. But once a year, he’s back in spirit at least, where guests are invited to walk in the footsteps of The King…

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